Linda's Lecture
by JoPoGirlsKickAss
Summary: After discovering Wally's secret identity Linda gets a very surprising visitor. (Bruce/Wally friendship)


**Author:** JoPo [obviously]

 **Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

 **Happy Reading, Enjoy!**

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She couldn't believe it. How could she have been so _stupid_?! How did she not see it? The constant pathetic pickup lines from his masked self?! And the completely _understanding_ side of his unmasked self.

He'd became one of her best friends in the blink of an eye. They hung out all the time, the first and second Sunday of every month they'd have a movie night and order in. She told him just about everything, she called him when an interview went badly or her coworkers were riding her ass and giving her shit.

 _Oh god._

She had met him after her first run in with his alter ego during the Flash Appreciation Day at the museum. He must have set the whole thing up!

The door to her room opened and a mop of red hair slowly came into sight, followed by the toned body it was attached to. "...hey..?" his voice was quiet, cautious, and rough from all the smoke that he'd breathed in, or at least thats what she assumed.

Linda narrowed her eyes, "What do y—you want?!" She suppressed a cough that strained against her throat.

He stepped all the way into the room and closed the door behind him, "Um.. I just wanted to talk.. they told me you saw me without.."

"..your mask?"

Wally nodded, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, "Look Linda I really wanted-"

"Don't!"

Wally paused and looked up at her.

Linda shook her head, "Don't. You lie-ed t-to m—me." A coughing fit claimed her breath and burned her lungs. Wally took a step forward, but Linda shook her head, holding up a hand to stop him. She continued to cough and Wally watched on, his eyes full of worry and concern.

After a few moments the coughs subsided.

"Linda.."

She looked down at her hands and shook her head again, "No. I can't trust you Wally," her voice was a rasp, the doctors said the smoke did a lot of damage and it would be hoarse for weeks. "You were my best friend.. you should have told me."

"I was goi—"

"Stop!" The shout sent Linda into another coughing fit. She continued to shake her head until she could breathe properly, "Just.. just leave Wally."

Linda picked at the thin, paper hospital gown, "We can't be friends anymore.. just go.."

The silence that followed was tense and painful, it lasted until the sound of the door opening echoed in the white room. Linda glanced up and immediately regretted it, the look in Wally's eyes as he left was like a lost and beaten puppy, and the worst part was how his eyes were glistening with unshed tears. When the door clicked shut she fell back against the bed and squeezed her eyes shut willing her own tears not to fall.

"No.. stop it." She scolded herself, wiping the water from her eyes. She needed to be angry. She _was_ angry! He'd lied to her. Lied! And because of it they couldn't be friends anymore. They weren't friends. He ruined it, he had forced her to end their friendship.

The tears began to fall even faster because as angry as she was—and wanted to be—she'd just lost her best friend.

Linda ended up crying herself to sleep and she awoke the next morning with tear streaks down her cheeks and puffy eyes. Pushing her breakfast around on the tray with her fork Linda wished the disastrous weekend all a dream.

At the sound of the door she glanced up and saw a tall man closing the door behind himself, he pulled the blinds on the small window and locked the door. Linda could feel her heart begin to speed up and slowly reached for her assistance remote.

"Don't." The voice was dark, heavy, and so threatening Linda froze.

The man turned around and Linda let out a raspy gasp. "..wh-what..?"

"I'm here to set you straight. I don't care what you think, you will hear me out whether you want to or not."

Linda could only nod dumbly at the man before her, she was both too shocked and rather frightened to do anything else.

"I've known Wally for a long time, since he was preteen." Linda's eyes bugged out. "He and my son were—are best friends so I know him very well." He took a few steps forward and towered over the end of her bed, he was nothing like the charismatic man the tabloids made him out to be. "He can be annoying, and push every one of your buttons, but there is much more to him than what meets the eye. Everything that he does is for a reason, whether to cheer you up or get your mind off of something bothersome. Yes, some of what he does and says is just Wally being Wally, but that is what makes him so special. He looks out for others more than he lets on, and he cares. I have never seen someone who cares so much."

"He goes to the orphanages as often as he can to play with the kids there, and on Christmas he goes door to door collecting old toys for them, so that they have something to open on Christmas morning. He loves those kids the same way he loves his friends. Wally used to just be my son's annoying best friend, but now he's turned into my annoying younger brother, but I wouldn't trade him for anyone else."

The man gripped the end of the bed, his knuckles slowly turning white, "He loves you. He told me that when he met you, he knew you were special. That you'd be special to him. And you are, you became his world after he staged that bump-in at the burger joint. All he does is talk about you and how much he likes spending time with you. It's in his mannerisms; after he's seen you his smile is more annoying than usual, there is even more of a bounce in his step—just talking about you makes him smile. He is in love with you and you would be a fool to let him walk out of your life."

He held up a hand to stop her protests, "Yes, he didn't tell you who he was, but it killed him not to tell you, trust me on this, I heard his whining on a daily basis about it. But he couldn't tell you because other heroes' identities were on the line, if he told you who he was you would have eventually put some of the other pieces together. He wanted to tell you, but didn't because his friends were on the line."

"Wally is one of the best men on this Earth and you need to realize just how head over heels in love with you he is, and that he would never keep something as big as this from you unless he absolutely had to. Which he did, so think it over."

Linda nodded mutely and watched as he opened the door to let himself out, holding it for a nurse who was pushing a tray. The nurse paused and did a double take as the door swung shut, she swiveled around to face Linda, her eyes wide and jaw slack. "Was that... was that Bruce Wayne?"

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I love me some good ol' Wally and Bruce friendship.

Cheers,

\- JoPo


End file.
